I Spy (So You Don't Die)
by starwater13
Summary: Merlin is an SIS Agent assigned to secretly protect Arthur Pendragon, CEO of Round Table Pharmaceuticals, by posing as his personal assistant. Merlin fights assassins and Arthur thinks he's an idiot. Modern AU. Rated T for swearing and violence. Not slash.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi everyone, this is another persistent plot bunny that wouldn't leave me alone. It seems like my brain is determined to write at least one of every possible kind of Merlin fanfic. Don't worry, I'm not abandoning The Epic Adventures of Emrys :)**

* * *

Merlin subtly glanced around the room, noting the one door, two windows and three stone-faced thugs lining the walls of the office. This was a sticky situation, to be sure, but he'd survived worse. His sharp (currently) brown eyes refocused on the irate crime lord in front of him.

Calvin Collins (a rather boring name for a crime lord, Merlin thought), 175cm, 81kg, brown and grey hair, hazel eyes, scar on the left side of his neck, small dagger tattoo on the inside of his left wrist. Millionaire. Local head of the international crime syndicate responsible for 70% of all cocaine trafficking worldwide. Merlin adopted a vaguely stupid and sharply terrified expression.

"I – I'm so sorry, M-Mr. Collins," he stuttered, staring at the floor but taking note of Collins' every twitch in his peripheral vision. "I d-didn't know he was a cop, how could I have?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Merlin saw the bound body of the idiot detective constable who had gotten him into this situation. The man was kneeling on the floor, hands bound, with a gun to his head. He was trying to look stoic and defiant but just looked terrified.

"You idiot!" Said Collins. "How could you let him in here? Now that he knows where our operation is based, we'll have to kill him. Do you have any idea how much trouble it is to kill a cop?"

Merlin winced. "I'm sorry Mr. Collins, I didn't know! I promise it won't happen again, I'll take care of this, I promise! I know the perfect place to get rid of the body, no one will suspect a thing!" The man on the floor flinched.

Merlin waited, barely breathing, hoping Collins would take the bait and let him deal with the detective himself.

"No," said Collins, "I can't trust a moron like you to do this properly." He nodded his head towards the man with the gun. "Shoot him."

Merlin lunged to the side and tackled the executioner to the floor. He wrestled the gun from his hands and shot him once in the chest. He quickly jumped to his feet and had Collins in front of him with a gun at his temple before the crime lord had time to do more than yell in surprise.

"Now," he said calmly, "Tell your goons to put their guns down, nice and slow. If you do exactly as I say, I might just let you live to stand trial."

Collins grudgingly gave the order, and his bodyguards disarmed themselves.

"What the fuck? Are you some kind of cop?" Said Collins.

"Not exactly. Get up," Merlin growled at the detective, who stumbled to his feet. "Come here." Merlin retrieved a knife from his pocket and cut through the detective's bonds with his right hand, while holding the gun steady with his left.

"Collect their guns," he ordered the detective, and the man obeyed without question.

As the detective bent to retrieve the last weapon, one of Collins' goons jumped forward and tried to take him hostage.

Merlin didn't hesitate. He swung his gun away from Collins' temple, fired a single shot into the goon's head and pressed the barrel back against Collins' temple, in less than a second. The crime lord flinched, both from the heat of the metal and the gunshot right next to his ear.

"Nobody move!" Shouted Merlin. The detective was frozen in shock, staring at the goon's body.

"Detective," snapped Merlin. "Now would be a good time to call for some backup."

* * *

Three hours later, SIS Agent Merlin Emrys, (a.k.a. 'Warlock'), was slumped in a chair in his boss' office, clutching his coffee like it was a lifeline and rubbing his (now blue) eyes. He had been awake for over 26 hours, and he was starting to feel the effects of severe sleep deprivation.

Collins and the two surviving goons were in custody, the unfortunate detective had signed an agreement that he would never speak of Merlin's role in the arrest, and now Merlin was left to explain to his boss how it had all gone wrong.

Merlin had been undercover for 8 months, working his way up through the ranks of Collins' organization. His ultimate goal had been to uncover the identity of Collins' boss and take him out.

Merlin growled. He had been so close! Collins' boss, known only as 'Bane' (Merlin had snickered when he first heard the alias and wondered if the man was a Batman fan), had been scheduled to make a visit to London in just a week. Now that Collins had been arrested, Bane would probably change his plans, and even if he did come to London they wouldn't know who he was or where to find him. Merlin snarled in frustration. That stupid detective had found Collins' headquarters completely by accident, bumbled in without backup and forced Merlin to take action to save his idiotic ass.

"You shouldn't have blown your cover, Emrys," berated Merlin's boss.

Kilgarrah, known as 'the Great Dragon' to his subordinates (or 'that bloody cryptic cold-blooded lizard' to Merlin), was a large Scotsman who looked to be a fit 60, but Merlin suspected that he was much older.

"I couldn't just let him kill a detective!" Argued Merlin.

"Your actions have grave consequences." Kilgarrah solemnly stared Merlin down with his eerie pale brown eyes. "There is more at stake here than the life of one detective. You must not allow yourself to be ruled by your heart, young Warlock. Do not follow in the footsteps of your father."

Merlin stared down at the cluttered desk, ashamed.

Kilgarrah sighed. "At least one good thing has come out of this debacle. Collins has revealed the identity of the Syndicate's next target."

Merlin sat up straighter in his chair and leaned forward. "Who is it?"

"Arthur Pendragon, CEO of Round Table Pharmaceuticals. Apparently his company is developing a means to cure cocaine addiction, which could severely reduce the Syndicate's customer base. I want you to protect him until we can eliminate Bane."

"What?" Exclaimed Merlin. "I'm not a bodyguard, Kilgarrah!"

"At the moment you shouldn't even be an agent, I should suspend you for blowing the Bane investigation, but we need you too much. Arthur Pendragon is a powerful businessman and philanthropist, as well as heir to Camelot Industries. We cannot afford to let him die."

"But we can afford to let innocent detectives die?"

"I don't have time to deal with your naïve idealism Emrys! Bringing down the Syndicate is too important. Take the assignment or hand in your resignation."

"Fine." Merlin sighed. "I'll do it. Is Pendragon aware of the threat?"

"No," said Kilgarrah, "and we don't intend to inform him. He must appear vulnerable. You will find a way to get close to him, and when the assassin makes his move you will capture him. With Collins in custody, anyone they send will probably have dealt directly with Bane. We can turn this situation to our advantage."

Kilgarrah handed Merlin a folder. "This is everything we have on Arthur Pendragon and Round Table Pharmaceuticals. Look it over, get some sleep and report back tomorrow."

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**A/N: This is my first attempt at a modern AU, let me know if I should continue it! It could be either Gen or Slash, depending on what people want to read.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So I had 4 votes for slash, 12 for gen and 7 lovely people said they would read it either way. I've decided that this will be just a friendship fic, with some Arthur/Gwen on the side cause that's the way my muse was leaning anyway. I promise that my next fic will wonderfully romantic though! **

**If you do want to read some slashy spy goodness, I recommend _James Bond Eat Your Heart Out,_ by grave-walker, which is both hot and hilarious, or _The Incident With the Thingy_, by sparky77 over on LJ. **

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Merlin felt a sense of resignation creeping up his spine as he studied the file on Arthur Pendragon. Usually he had at least a week to prepare for undercover operations, but Kilgarrah had told him to report back with a plan this afternoon. There just wasn't enough time for him to set up a solid new identity. He could beg Kilgarrah for a few more days, but Pendragon was already in danger, he couldn't afford to waste his time. Especially since he already had an in at Round Table Pharmaceuticals that didn't require a new identity.

Merlin did what any good spy does when he needs help. He called his mother.

"Merlin dear!" Exclaimed Hunith. "How are you? You haven't called in such a long time!" Merlin winced guiltily. It's hard to call your mum when you're pretending to be a tough-ass cocaine dealer.

"I'm alright Mum, how are you?" He chatted with her for 20 minutes or so, telling her a little bit about his time undercover (leaving out the more gruesome parts), but mostly just listening to her talk about her friends and her job.

After a while he managed to segue into the actual purpose of his call.

"Hey Mum, can you give me Dr. Gaius' phone number? I need some help with a case."

"Sure sweetheart, he'll be thrilled to hear from you, he loves all that secretive spy stuff."

'Thanks Mum."

"I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you too."

* * *

The next day, Merlin arrived at the Round Table Pharmaceuticals Research Laboratory, located in the basement of the Round Table Headquarters. He was greeted enthusiastically by Dr. Gaius, lead scientist of the Excalibur Project, Round Table's cure for cocaine addiction.

"Merlin my boy! I thought you were supposed to visit on Wednesday!"

"It is Wednesday." Merlin fought back a smile and embraced his mother's old friend.

"Oh! I'm sorry Merlin but I seem to have mixed up my schedule. I had planned to show you around the lab and get you started, but I'm supposed to meet Arthur and his father Uther for lunch. Perhaps you'd like to join us? I can introduce you to Arthur, and maybe we can find a job that's more suited to you than laboratory assistant. I'd love to have you work for me, of course, you're smarter than most of my assistants combined, but I think you would prefer to be closer to the business side of the company." Dr. Gaius smiled conspiratorially at him and raised his eyebrow. Merlin fought back a chuckle. The doctor really did love "all that secretive spy stuff." Dr. Gaius knew that he worked for the SIS, but not what he did or why he was interested in Round Table Pharmaceuticals.

"Sure, that sounds perfect," said Merlin.

* * *

They met Arthur and Uther at a nearby Thai restaurant. Merlin thought that Arthur actually seemed more imposing in person, while Uther seemed less austere. Gaius introduced him as his good friend's son who was looking for a job. Uther shook his hand politely. Arthur was too busy harassing the waiter to pay any attention to the introduction.

"I ordered sparkling water, not still, and I asked you get me a new fork, this one looks like it hasn't even been cleaned! Do you think this is an acceptable way to run a restaurant? One word from me and half your customers will never come here again!"

The poor waiter was obviously distressed. "I'm sorry sir, I'm very sorry, I get you new fork and water." Merlin wondered if perhaps he hadn't understood Arthur's request the first time he made it, English obviously wasn't his native language.

"About time," sneered Arthur. "If it had taken any longer to get it through your thick skull I would have wondered whether you had a brain in there at all."

Merlin was liking Arthur less and less with every word that came out of his arrogant mouth. "Hey, come on now, that's enough. There's no need to be cruel."

"Do I know you?" Asked Arthur.

"Er, I'm Merlin."

"So I don't know you, and yet you think you can tell me what to do."

"That was my mistake."

"Yes, I think so."

"Yeah, and my second mistake was thinking you wouldn't turn out to be the arrogant prat most people say you are." Merlin winced as the words flew out of his mouth. He was usually much more suave than this, but Arthur's entitled arrogance really got under his skin.

Arthur gaped at him. "You can't talk to me like that!"

"Apparently I can." So much for befriending Arthur Pendragon. This was definitely not helping him with his ultimate objective.

Uther chuckled while Arthur gaped at him. "Your boy has a backbone Gaius."

Merlin, however, wasn't paying any attention to the elder Pendragon. The back of his neck was prickling, the way it did when someone had him in their sights. He glanced warily around the small restaurant. He had already taken note of all the ways in and out, but the large glass window next to their table made him feel vulnerable. Merlin glanced outside and saw the sun glinting on something in the small alley across the street and one building down. His sense of unease exploded into a sense of panic and he reacted instantly.

"Down!" He yelled as he threw himself sideways and knocked Arthur to the floor. The window shattered and a bullet drove into the wall seconds later, right where Arthur's head had been.

Dr. Gaius and Uther both gaped in astonishment. Merlin crawled around the table and peered over the windowsill, just in time to see a dark haired woman toss her sniper rifle into a nearby bin and disappear into the crowded street. Merlin debated with himself for a moment, and then decided to stay at the restaurant. He hadn't seen the woman's face, she would have already changed her clothes and disappeared. If he chased after her he probably wouldn't find her, and he would have blown his cover for nothing.

Instead, he stayed and pretended to be shaken up.

"You saved my life!" Exclaimed Arthur disbelievingly.

"I saw a woman with a big gun outside the window!" Merlin fabricated.

When the police arrived and took his statement, he told them the same thing. A few hours later, when all the paperwork was done, he and Dr. Gaius decided to return to the labs. Arthur had been assigned police protection, Merlin doubted that another attempt would be made on his life for a few days at least, they would wait until his guard was down again.

"Wait!" Said Uther as they made to leave. "Merlin, you saved the life of my son, you deserve a reward."

"Oh no," said Merlin, "you don't need to do that."

"Nonsense, your actions merit something quite special. I know! You need a job and Arthur needs a new executive assistant. Gaius tells me you're very competent and reliable, and the job will pay much more than working in the laboratory."

"Father!" Exclaimed Arthur unhappily, but he didn't make any further protests.

Merlin's mind raced. This was perfect! He couldn't have planned it better, he would be close to Arthur all day, every day, in a perfect position to protect him.

He glanced at Arthur's sour face. Ugh. He would be close to the arrogant prat all day, every day.

_Damn you Kilgarrah._

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**A/N: Please let me know if you like it :)**


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